“We don’t track anyone” Steve Jobs reportedly tells user

Apple CEO Steve Jobs may be taking a leave of absence right now, but it seems he's still checking his email. Asked by a MacRumors reader about the ongoing furore over iPhone tracking, which reports suggested this morning was occurring even when location services are shut off, Jobs reportedly denied any such tracking and said "the info circulating around is false."

Q: Steve,

Could you please explain the necessity of the passive location-tracking tool embedded in my iPhone? It's kind of unnerving knowing that my exact location is being recorded at all times. Maybe you could shed some light on this for me before I switch to a Droid. They don't track me.

A: Oh yes they do. We don't track anyone. The info circulating around is false.

Sent from my iPhone

Recent research showed that Android does indeed track users, though the extent to which data from each system is passed on to the respective company is still unclear. The WSJ claimed that both the iPhone and Android-based devices are regularly sending back location data to Apple and Google, something Jobs does not address.

Now, there's no confirmation that this is actually from Steve Jobs himself, and indeed even if this is from Apple it may not be the handiwork of the CEO, but rather some over-enthusiastic PR person tasked with minding the account. Still, it looks like the privacy concerns over the two biggest platforms in smartphones and tablets aren't going anywhere until consumers get some answers.